Subscribe to stay up to date plus get 5 Free Home Productivity Printable Planners!
Faith

Choosing the “Good Part” – A Biblical Encouragement for Homemakers

Thanks for Sharing!

“. . . and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her”. (Luke 10:42b)

Choosing the Good Part - A Biblical Study for Homemakers - From At Home With Zan-

Trying to Juggle it all

We’d just moved and I was tired. My husband was tired. The kids were tired. That first few days I decided to take things slowly. But then the more I looked at the piles and piles of boxes and bins that took up residence in our new dining and living room (they connect) the more and more I wanted to get the house in shape. There were necessities that we needed right away in order to function (i.e kitchen things, clothes, health and body products). Maybe I could just find those first, get them in the right places of the home, then slowly go unpack the rest of the stuff. That idea seemed to be the best option until I went to actually find these first set of items and my motivation waned every time.

The movers somehow thought they should stack all the items in the living room. While we packed up the former house, we stacked the boxes and bins in one room downstairs and left the bigger items such as our beds and dressers upstairs (my husband moved the ones he could to one room, too). We did this for a few reasons:

  • to make it easier to clean out other rooms
  • to help the movers get the items faster
  • to watch our budget – the longer they took to move the more money we’d have to pay them

The movers made two trips bringing our stuff to the new house but I was not there to tell them where to put them. I was back at the current house cleaning and finishing packing up miscellaneous stuff. At one point my husband had gone over with the kids along to the movers but he took the kids to the nearby park while the movers unpacked. The boxes were labeled not only so we could know what were in them but also so the movers could know which rooms to put them in. I have no idea why they unpacked the way they did.

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

Once we officially moved out from the old into the new, I was surprised to see all the boxes and bins pilled up in one far corner of the corner of the dining room and everything else in the living room. Keep in mind that the boxes were labeled and most of the bins were transparent. Everything else (not in a bin or a box) were self-explanatory). That labeling was not only for us to know where things were but also so the movers could unload them in the correct rooms.

Since it was late at night and we were too tired to go through to find anything, the rest of us went to bed while my husband went to the store to find an outfit for work. He’d taken two days off and needed to return to work the following day. I’d placed some shirts and pants in a separate laundry basket to take along ourselves in our own cars. Unfortunately, it got mixed up with the other stuff that were moved over.

When my husband returned to work the next morning I was left to scramble to find what we need. I started to move boxes to their locations since everything we needed (as mentioned above) happened to be at the very bottom of the piles and piles. Most of the days my energy was waned at mid-morning. I would get very little done, feel very tired, take a break from it to take the kids to the park to play on a daily basis. The plan was to finish what I started in the evening after everyone had an afternoon rest. When evening came though even dinner seemed too much to make.

Choosing the Good Part - A Biblical Study - From At Home With Zan

Over the next few days things progressed slowly. And I do mean slowly. We were all just so tired. My husband came down with a fever. Nothing was moving fast. Not to mention, during this time we had set aside time to visit friends, grocery shopped, took the kids to the zoo and ran a few other errands. But even on days when we were home all day with nothing on the agenda we just couldn’t seem to get anything done – basically we just went around in circles.

40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

What was going on? Why were we so tired? Through it all, I prayed and asked God for help but somehow I still felt like something was missing. “Lord, dost thou not care that my husband went to work and I’m the only one trying to do it all?” Was I just complaining or was I spiritually off. Was the time I spent reading and praying valuable or was I just doing something quick to get by? Was I spending too much time online when I was taking a break from attempting to unpack? What was wrong with me? And then I read a quote from Proverbs31 ministries online that talked about our fullness being in Christ. That kind of stuck with me that day. Because I knew that I was not fully depending on God to fulfill my needs. And then my answer came.

42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

The following morning instead of hurrying through prayer and rushing downstairs to breakfast and get started, I stayed in my bed a little longer. Thankfully, it was early enough and the kids were still asleep. I asked God to show me what I needed most that day. While I flipped through a devotional book for moms, I saw a title that said seated or scurried. I had no idea what it was but I immediately thought about the Biblical story of Mary and Martha. Sure enough that is what the chapter in the devotional was about. I read it though with conviction and identified with what the mom who wrote it struggled with it. I read the verses through the scripture “but Mary chose the good part”. Was I choosing that good part? Probably not. After I was done reading and praying through what I just read I then decided to re-read another book just to refresh my mind. Guess what? There was a page in that other book that talked about sitting at the feet of Jesus. I simply knew that this was the exact lesson I needed.

Like Martha, I was busy with the daily chores and missing out on the “good part” in front of me. Once I chose that good part everything seemed to fall into place. Amazingly, I got so much done that day. I was in a good non-tired mood. In fact, it was the first day in about 2 weeks that I felt like myself again. Even the kids seemed to be wide away and played so well. I didn’t think that my tied mood was affecting how they played but maybe it did. But it could have been. God was showing me that I needed to sit at the feet of Jesus. I needed to stop trying to hurry in the midst of all that was around me. While I thought I was saying and here and there prayer in the midst of trying to keep a house straight it still was not enough. I needed something solid and to actually believe in the prayer, meditate on God’s word and let it sink deep within. The time spent in prayer is not time to be regretted as God ALWAYS makes time for us to do just enough when we make the time for him.

Choosing the Good Part -A Biblical Encouragement for Homemakers - At Home With Zan

So how are you in your daily tasks? Are you choosing the good part of sitting and spending time at the feet of Jesus and putting Him first.

Thanks for Sharing!
Join the Conversation

Read previous post:
Trip to the Strawberry Patch – Simple Family Outing

It's been about 2 years since we visited the Strawberry Patch. We were out running some errands not too far...

Close